A review by bob_muller
Seven Days by Deon Meyer

4.0

This is my first exposure to Deon Meyer, and I'll definitely read his other works. As a thriller or suspense novel, this one is superb. It ramps up the suspense on every page. A classic summer beach novel in that way. I like the characters a lot. I'm not a fan of perspective switching to the murderer in these kinds of novels, it always feels like the author is cheating, but it does serve the purpose in this novel--creating suspense. Unfortunately, by the end of the book, you begin to realize the author was in fact cheating--Meyer didn't want to introduce the antagonist as an actual character in the story, and so had to provide insight into that character through the creaky device of switching perspective. But he commits the classic mystery author cheat of hiding facts from the reader that the character knows. That's why you don't do it this way--you never go to the murderer's perspective unless that's the essence of the story (usually a serial murder novel, which I also hate). In this case, it's not. I was also disappointed in the ending because of the very surprise, almost deus ex machina revelations about the murder and the motive. Too few clues, too little history for the main characters. So although the suspense writing is excellent, I can't give it full marks. Very enjoyable, though.